Canadians sound out French on Afghan troop offer

VILNIUS (Reuters) - Canada sent senior officials to Paris
on Friday to sound out France on a possible offer of support
for 2,500 Canadian troops in south Afghanistan and said it had
got its message across to allies on the need for help.

In what would be a major setback for the NATO peacekeeping
mission, Canada has said it will pull its soldiers from the
southern Afghan city of Kandahar on schedule next February
unless other NATO nations provide an extra 1,000 troops there.

"We knocked on a lot of doors. Some of them are open and
France is one of those countries ... We are going to have some
discussions about logistically how we can make it happen,"
Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay told reporters.

A Canadian Defense Ministry spokesman earlier confirmed a
delegation was traveling to France, but declined to comment on
a Canadian television report they were going to negotiate the
transfer of 700 French troops to the south.

MacKay, speaking on the last day of a two-day NATO defense
ministers meeting, said it was too early to say exactly what
the French help would consist of, but that France had the
capability to meet Canada's requirements.

"We came here with a clear message," MacKay added of his
talks in Vilnius.

"I feel we delivered that message. There is no confusion
what the requirements are," he said, pointing to a need for
more troops and equipment. "We achieved some success."

French Defense Minister Herve Morin told reporters at the
NATO meeting on Thursday that Paris was willing to help Canada,
but had taken no decision on deploying troops or equipment.
France has some 1,500 troops, based mostly in the capital
Kabul.

Morin said on Thursday France was studying deployment
options as part of a wider reorganization of the 43,000-strong
NATO-led Afghan peace force which he expected to be discussed
at an April 2-4 alliance summit in Bucharest.

Canada's minority government plans a parliamentary vote of
confidence in late March on prolonging its military mission in
Afghanistan, officials said earlier this week.